In a typical shower or tub stall defined by a rear wall, two end walls and an opening, a shower curtain is suspended from a shower curtain rod by a plurality of attachment members, generally rings or hooks, which are slidably mounted on the shower curtain rod, allowing the shower curtain to be opened or closed within the stall opening. When closed, the ends of the shower curtain simply follow the straight path of the shower curtain rod and hang in perpendicular relation against the end walls of the stall. This generally results in a gap between the ends of the shower curtain and the end walls of the stall, providing an inefficient seal for keeping water from splashing out.
There are various prior art devices which purport to solve this problem. One such device is a sliding or hinged glass door. However, such doors are relatively expensive and complicated to install.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,862, issued to Skrzelowski on Sep. 13, 1988, discloses a type of shower curtain rod and not a separate bracket type support.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,923,013, issued to Wasserman on Feb. 2, 1960, discloses a shower bar attachment which rigidly attaches to the shower curtain rod to, in effect, become an integral part of the shower curtain rod, and not a bracket type support that is slidably attached to the shower curtain rod.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,878,487, issued to Foote on Mar. 24, 1959, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,385,409, issued to File et al. on May 31, 1983, both disclose a shower curtain support which utilizes a plurality of hinges or pivots to impart the desired function, resulting in a support that is overly complex.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,974, issued to Ruggiero on Dec. 15, 1992, discloses a shower curtain support which relies on a counter-weight extending outwardly from the stall to balance with the end edge portion of the shower curtain extending inwardly into the stall, resulting in a support that is both overly complex and visually obtrusive.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,081, issued to Knight on Apr. 13, 1993, discloses a shower curtain support which is installed in conjunction with the first three attachment openings inward from either appropriate end of the shower curtain. As a shower curtain opens by folding at and between each attachment opening, such a design will restrict the amount the shower curtain will open by a distance equal to its own length. In a typical installation utilizing two such supports, with one support at each end of the shower curtain, this results in the mount the shower curtain will open being overly restricted, leaving an inconveniently small opening as access to the stall.
All of the aforementioned patents disclose useful devices, however none of them succeed in providing a practical shower curtain support that is both simple in design and uncompromising in function.